OSU was down 1 with 2 minutes left. If they let Texas run the ball, all of the time will run out which did happen. If they would've just let them score the touchdown, they would be down 8 BUT they would have the ball with 2 minutes and a chance to tie with a score+2 point conversion. Wasn't that their only chance? Why didn't they let Texas score and get the ball back?
We were at the game, and a couple of friends and I talked about that same scenario. We felt like they needed the time and timeouts to tie us more than they needed the stop that would give them almost no time at all to come back. I think it's a mentality thing- many teams/ coaches will never willingly give up a score, and would rather hope that their D can make something happen, i.e. force a fumble, interception, etc. However, from a numerical perspective, it does seem like it might have been their best bet down the stretch. If nothing else, it would've forced UT to kick off to OSU again, and that would've been SCARY AS HELL.
I think the idea is when we had first and goal, if they just let us run it in - it would have saved them about a minute or so and some timeouts, instead of having us run 1st, 2nd, and 3rd down plays. Before we got to 4th and 1, worst case looked like we would have gotten a field goal, putting us up by 4, meaning they still needed a TD. I think letting us score quickly would definitely have been the smart play here, but it's hard for any coach to ask their defense to walk off the field and let the other team score.
Like Major said, it's hard for a coach to tell your defense to just let them score, especially after the effort they put in that game. Their offense wasn't exactly clicking out there. I think you put your trust in your D and let them try to go for a stop or a field goal. They got what they wanted by a dumb play by Melton, but the Texas defense was on top of things all night.
No, they didn't get what they wanted because they only had 20 something seconds to drive the whole field. I know it's hard for a coach to tell his defense to let them score, but aren't the chances of winning more important than that? You can't let your pride derail your entire season. Even if the defense gets a stop, they'll have no time left. The only chance they had was if their defense forced a fumble, extremely unlikely given how Texas was cradling the ball. Chances of scoring+2 point conversion with two minutes >>> Chances of score with 90+ yards to go and 25 seconds.
In an emotionless game, I'd agree with you. But I think a lot of it is that a big stop - maybe even a turnover - could demoralize Texas or hype up their team or whatnot. They had forced 4 turnovers already. Or a blocked kick could be returned for a TD. So much of college football is based on emotion of the players, I think a lot of coaches won't take the chance of doing something like letting the opponent score.
I was thinking the same thing and I remember thinking it was a blessing that Texas didn't score and pinned them on the one and got the safety.
If UT went for two, Ohio State would have a great chance to stop the conversion and then all they would need to do is score a touchdown with 2+ minutes on the clock. Again, a scenario with a much greater chance of winning than driving the whole field in 25 seconds. BTW, great Simpsons reference Fatty.
Yeah, but there is a good possibility that they would have gone for two and made it... a good coach would NEVER knowingly put their team out of the game simply at a chance to get the ball back, especially when the team going for two has a mobile QB like Young.
No thanks. Even if we scored, we go for one. If we fail to convert the 2 point conversion, then a touchdown and an extra point ties it. Compare that to forcing them to go for 2 if we play Basically, that would come down to us being able to score a two point conversion vs. being able to stop one. Given out line size advantage, and the play of our defense, I'd go with our defense. I was a little relieved when we didn't punch the TD all the way in. The only area of the game they were outplaying us in was special teams, and I did not want to see Ginn touch the ball again.
I agree its too big of a risk especially with college players. OSU D played well until the 4th quarter and was able to force turnovers. A coach with young players needs to show faith confidence in them and letting UT score while it might've made sense for clock management would've also been percieved as not showing faith that the D could make a big play. Even though this loss is a huge blow for national championship standing at the moment it is only the second game of the season and OSU has a long tough Big Ten schedule still ahead and the Tressell will need his D to remain confident and who knows what will happen as the season unfolds. OSU could win the rest of their games UT loses to OK, USC loses to CAL and OSU still finishes 1 or 2 and ends up in the title game.
No way we go for two if we get the TD. Just about every coach will take the 8 pt lead and force the other team to get a TD and 2-pt conversion, for some odd reason. Plus, we don't exactly have Mr. Risk Taker as our coach.
To further complicate this scenario, as a UT coach, do you tell your RB not to score if the defense is obviously letting you score? I was so glad that they didn't go for the FG. I did not want to kick the ball off, because they would get the ball at the 50 yard line after their 'average' kick return, then they'd have a few shots at the end zone. It would have been nice for Henry to get the TD, but I liked the way the defense got to ice the game for us. They really deserved it. When I read the title of this thread, I thought that it would be a different question. The question that I had at the end of the game was that you can kick an onside kick for the 'free kick' after the safety. I had never seen that before and I didn't know that you could kick an onside kick after the safety. Once that happened, I realized that could have been a decent strategy considering there was so little time on the clock to go 99 1/2 yards when you could have a chance to gain about 40 yards in a few seconds if you get the onside kick.
You stop at the one-inch-line and force them to tackle you on 1st or second downs. On third down, you stop at line and force them to make you score.
